General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) announced the successful airborne demonstration of a Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) on a GA-ASI Predator® B/MQ-9 Reaper® Block 5 aircraft.
The company-owned Predator B operated from GA-ASI’s Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility near Palmdale, California, against various ground-based radars.
“The successful demonstration of a mature radar warning receiver on our company-owned Predator B clearly shows the utility of the aircraft in conducting missions in the proximity of threat radars and enemy air defenses,” said Claudio Pereida, Executive Vice President, Mission Systems, GA-ASI.
“We are pleased to be the first company to demonstrate this capability on a remotely piloted aircraft and hope to make it available to interested customers on a quick-reaction basis,” he added.
The Raytheon ALR-69A RWR, carried within GA-ASI’s standard payload pod, provides enhanced situational awareness to aircrew and air element command and control units by identifying potential radar threats in or near “contested airspace” environments.
“The ALR-69A provides improved detection range and accurate, unambiguous identification in dense signal environments. Its open architecture is what allows it to operate on manned or unmanned aircraft,” said Paul Overstreet, ALR-69A Program Manager, Raytheon.
In various flight profiles, the pod was able to validate RWR performance which met or exceeded current thresholds for both air and ground radar threats. Additionally, the RWR information to the flight crew was deemed useful for triggering flight crew action, such as manually cross-cueing to other onboard sensors to validate threat information.
GA-ASI plans further RWR demonstrations later in the year to include integrating with Link 16 (a military tactical data exchange network).
Development and testing is currently being conducted under Internal Research and Development (IRAD) funding, with the goal of partnering with potential customers in the near future.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., an affiliate of General Atomics, delivers situational awareness by providing remotely piloted aircraft systems, radar, and electro-optic and related mission systems solutions for military and commercial applications worldwide.
The company’s Aircraft Systems business unit is a leading designer and manufacturer of proven, reliable RPA systems, including Predator A, Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper and Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper Extended Range (ER), Gray Eagle and Gray Eagle ER, Predator C Avenger® and Avenger ER, Predator XP, and SkyGuardianTM and SeaGuardianTM. It also manufactures a variety of solid-state digital Ground Control Stations (GCS), including the next-generation Advanced Cockpit GCS, and provides pilot training and support services for RPA field operations.
The Mission Systems business unit designs, manufactures, and integrates the Lynx® Multi-mode Radar and sophisticated Claw® sensor control and image analysis software into both manned and remotely piloted aircraft. It also focuses on providing integrated sensor payloads and software for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft platforms and develops electro-optic sensors, and meta-material antennas.
